Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for generating image data and transmitting the image data to a destination using an image processing apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an image processing apparatus which implements a scan method called a pseudo Push Scan that executes the following operation has appeared.
In a system including an image processing apparatus and information terminal (to be referred to as a PC hereinafter), which are connected via a network, when the image processing apparatus is ready for an image scan, it notifies the PC as a destination designated by the user of a scan ready message via the network. Upon reception of the scan ready message, the PC transmits a scan job request including designation of an image format to be acquired and the like to that image processing apparatus. Upon reception of this scan job request, the image processing apparatus generates image data by scanning a document image using a scanner, and converts the image data into file data of the format designated by the scan job request. Then, the image processing apparatus outputs this converted file data to the PC. FIG. 1 shows this sequence.
In FIG. 1, when the image processing apparatus is ready for an image scan, it transmits a scan ready message to the PC. After that, when a scan job request which requests to scan a document image and to transmit the data to the PC is received from the PC, the image processing apparatus converts image data obtained by scanning a document image into a format, resolution, and the like requested by the scan job request. The image processing apparatus can transmit an image file in response to the scan job request from the PC by transmitting the image file generated in this way to the PC.
The Microsoft Corporation specifies a communication protocol required for a computer to use a Web service called “Web Service On Device (to be abbreviated as “WSD” hereinafter)” provided by an electronic apparatus such as an image forming apparatus. In this specification, a protocol (WSD scan) which supports a pseudo Push Scan is specified.
Also, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-267701 describes an image forming apparatus which can execute a pseudo Push Scan according to the WSD scan specification.
After reception of a scan job request, a conventional image processing apparatus generates image data by scanning a document image, converts that image data into a designated image format included in the scan job request, and transmits the converted data to a PC as a request source. However, since the designated image format depends on settings and operations of PCs, when there are a plurality of PCs as destinations of a pseudo Push Scan for a single image scan, the image processing apparatus has to convert image data into image formats respectively designated by the plurality of PCs designated as destinations. At this time, if image formats designated by the respective PCs are incompatible with each other, the image processing apparatus cannot cope with scan job requests from all the PCs by a single image scan and image conversion. In such case, the image processing apparatus has to execute a document scan and image data conversion for each scan job request.
In general, as for a time period from when the PC receives a scan ready message until it outputs a scan job request, there is no special temporal limitation in terms of the protocol. Therefore, conventionally, when a document includes secret information, after the user sets that document on a scanning unit of the image processing apparatus, he or she cannot leave from the image processing apparatus until a scan job request is received from the PC and the scanning unit completes scanning of the document. Therefore, when image data is transmitted from the image processing apparatus which supports a pseudo Push Scan, the user cannot determine how long he or she has to stand on beside the image processing apparatus since a reception timing of a scan job request from the PC is unknown.